Red Leaves
by DarkMask09
Summary: Naru has lived life in the shadows but now, she is being forced into the front seat and comes face to face with her past mistakes. This is a mix of my favourate Naruto themes. It has been sitting in my laptop for too long so I decided to bring it out.


**Red Leaves**

**Chapter 1 - Complications**

**Disclamer: I don't own Naruto or anything you might recognise**

**Warnings: Dark themes, Femnaru**

**AN: Enjoy!**

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_The girl stood, towering above the many bodies that lay beneath her. Her flowing blond hair glowed beautifully in the moonlight. Her hands were shaking; they were covered in blood. She had killed them, killed him._**_  
_**

"_Are you just going to stand there?" his amusement was shining, taunting her._

_She spun round and her bloodshot eyes met identical red ones. "Itachi!" she breathed, "You're supposed to be dead!"_

"_I know. You killed me." The words echoed in her mind like a horrible broken record on repeat_

"_No, no, no! I- I didn't mean to! I-" she felt something warm and wet run down her scarred cheek. She was crying. A shinobi never cried!_

_Her gaze gradually looked up at him. His pale skin was getting lighter; he was fading away; disappearing from this world. "Don't go Itachi. I'm sorry, please don't leave me." As she begged her tears clouded her sight as she reached blindly for him. She was unable to touch him. _

_The blood… The blood was everywhere; staining the ground with a deep red. She let out a horror filled scream as the blood crawled onto her hair and dyed it scarlet._

"_This is completely your fault; it's your fault that they are dead…. It's your fault that I am dead." He jeered, "What will you do? What will you say to Sasuke? His whole family… gone! He'll be all…" The last word came out as a whisper as he left her; completely vanishing into the cold night's air. "Alone."_

_But she could still hear them, the voices, the hatred, and the regret. "You killed them."_

"_They were right."_

"_You're a monster."_

"_I HATE YOU!"_

**-*&amp;.&amp;*-**

It was a bright sunny day in Konoha, the sun was shining, the birds were singing. Everyone was happy… well, almost everyone. If you looked very carefully, you would see a small figure on top of the Yondaime's head on the Hokage Mountain. There was a little girl who sat alone, her blood red hair blowing innocently in the wind. She looked no more than ten years old, but her eyes showed glimpses of the pain she had lived through and were tainted by the horrors she had witnessed at such a young age.

The girl is, as you would know her, none other than the 'Uzumaki Naruko', but this time she looked different. Deep red hair and black hoodie replacing her yellow hair and luminous orange jumpsuit. This is one of the rare times she would drop her mask and let her real self out. She had realised, seven years ago, that life does not wait for anyone. So she had dropped everything and spent the last few years becoming the perfect shinobi. Even though deep down in her heart she knows that pushing everyone away would not help. She knew that editing Sasuke's memories would not help her forget the day she lost her best friend, her older brother, her family...

Her lifeless eyes skimmed over the houses until they reached the Uchiha Compound. Thoughts and memories resurfaced as if they were fresh in her mind. It was all she could do to keep her special people safe. '_Sasuke will be better off not knowing me. I was the thorn in his life. Everything was my fault… it was all because of __me__.' _The thoughts rolled around in her head; she couldn't help but blame herself._.._

"**Don't you dare even think about that! This has nothing to do with you; stop thinking such depressing thoughts kit. You're getting wrinkles; you shouldn't be, you're too young for that! Besides, someone is here to see you.**" Kuruma growled from his cage in her mind.

"I thought I would find you here, you missed the meeting. You've had one of those dreams again, haven't you?" A voice floated up.

She snapped her head around; the Hokage was standing right there, looking at Narumi with a worried look. "_**Told you so".**_ "Jī-san, I didn't see you there, do you need anything?" she whispered; her voice barely cutting through the breeze.

'_She didn't sense me?'_ "What were you thinking about?"

The girl stiffened; it was the question she had been avoiding. The wind seemed to sense her distress and blew harder against the man, "Nothing you need to be concerned with Jī-san. I'm sorry for missing the meeting, was it important?"

"We were discussing your new Genin team."

"WHAT! What genin team?!

"_**Hahahahaha! Look at your face!"**_

Some part of her brain noticed the hidden warning, she knew the dangers of letting the emotion get to her, but she had been carried too far away, "What are you talking about!" Her voice was raised and no longer was she silent and hard to hear

"I have assigned you to a genin team, Team 7- Hatake."

She realised it immediately, "Kakashi's team? You're putting me with Sasuke, aren't you?"

'_She's too clever for her own good.'_ "It's for both your protection and your cover. The elders have already started questioning your whereabouts. You cannot deny the undeniable."

She released a groan, "There's more, isn't it. This isn't just for me."

"…"

Then it hit her. She could feel the sudden whirl of emotions reacting to the unexpected revelation. The wind pulled closer, attempting to calm her down as much as possible.

"_**Calm down Kit," he warned.**_

She took a deep breath and easily wiped her face of emotions like she was taught to. "What happened to Sasu-chan?" _"I am an ANBU leader and can't afford to let my emotions get the better of me."_

The Hokage smiled; she had used his old nickname without realising it. "Nothing… Yet. I feel something big is going to happen soon. He is bent on revenge and we, especially _you,_ need to do something before he loses his mind… And kills Itachi."

The girl visibly flinched at the name. "I promise…" She whispered into the wind, as if in a trance.

She said no more. She didn't need to. He knew he had her.

"Team seven is Kakashi's squad, but if you read the document carefully, it actually states that _Kitsune_ is the captain. This is a secret between you and me. In anything less than a highly dangerous situation, I want you to play along. You will have to adopt your blond hair again as Naruko does not have red hair. You can inform your team if you have to. Please arrive _on time_ tomorrow so I can introduce you, and **no** funny tricks." He allowed the corners of his mouth to curve up slightly, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have paperwork to attend to. Don't forget your mission this afternoon."

There was nothing she could do now. She carefully placed her ANBU mask back on and turned to leave. "Ok, bye Jī-san. Have fun!" '_I just hope Sasuke will make this easy for me.'_

A mysterious look crossed his face, but was skillfully wiped away before she could see.

"Goodbye… Namikazi Narumi."

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**AN: ****This was a story planned to include all my favourate naruto themes and cliches. I started it a few years back so I've mostly forgotten the immensely complicated plot I built for myself... (As you do when writing your first epic story) I was originally going to put this out as a one-shot, but that would be too confusing. I guess if there is enough interest in it, I might take up writing it again. Any help would be appreciated. :D**


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